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How tech companies can help combat the pandemic and reshape public health | Karen DeSalvo

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Karen DeSalvo, the chief health officer at Google, explains the partnership between big tech and public health in slowing the spread of COVID-19 — and discusses a new contact tracing technology recently rolled out by Google and Apple that…

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Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

Karen DeSalvo, the chief health officer at Google, explains the partnership between big tech and public health in slowing the spread of COVID-19 — and discusses a new contact tracing technology recently rolled out by Google and Apple that aims to ease the burden on health workers and provide scientists critical time to create a vaccine. (This virtual conversation, hosted by current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers and head of TED Chris Anderson, was recorded on May 27, 2020.)

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You’re welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), submit a Media Request here:

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69 Comments

69 Comments

  1. Optical Clarity

    June 26, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    Cease pandering to leftist lies. Peaceful protests about re-opening? “Killing grandma, spreading covid.”

    Mass riots, arson, assault, rape = “peaceful protest that definitely doesn’t spread covid… That is why we turned off the contact tracers… So we can keep our eyes covered and ears plugged & pretend that is true.”

  2. Finn MacCool

    June 26, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    Translation: How tech companies can further enslave us, strip us of our freedom of speech, and cancel anyone who doesn’t conform to the orthodoxy of the radical globalist marxist left.

  3. Super Saiyan Saugod

    June 26, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    Another Karen.

  4. Optical Clarity

    June 26, 2020 at 6:50 pm

    First the pandemic. Now the panderdemic.

    Cease pandering to leftist lies. Peaceful protests about re-opening? “Killing grandma, spreading covid.”

    Mass riots, arson, assault, rape = “peaceful protest that definitely doesn’t spread covid… That is why we turned off the contact tracers… So we can keep our eyes covered and ears plugged & pretend that is true.”

    • CountJimbo

      June 26, 2020 at 9:54 pm

      No one thought that protests didnt spread covid

    • Optical Clarity

      June 26, 2020 at 10:24 pm

      @CountJimbo MSNBC states that the protests don’t spread covid. CNN agrees. That is why they are fake news.

      They also say “the demO-crats don’t want to take your guns” and “the demO-crats defend freedom of speech.”

      All lies.

  5. Southpaw

    June 26, 2020 at 6:55 pm

    Big tech companies are not worthy of the public trust. They demonstrate that regularly

  6. Joshua Roberts

    June 26, 2020 at 6:55 pm

    That’s a no from me. I don’t like slavery

  7. SomeoneYouKnow

    June 26, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    Stop begging for big tech to have even MORE power? It’s not their damn job to manipulate or censor things to push certain propaganda.
    STOP TRYING TO CONTROL EVERYTHING!

    • Savstradamus

      June 26, 2020 at 9:09 pm

      its kinda sad to see how ted devolved into this globalist technocratic direction, instead of relying on fascinating science back in the day. Follow the money I guess.

    • Honest Person

      June 26, 2020 at 10:27 pm

      @Savstradamus it would be interesting to know if Anderson is a 33rd degree you know what.

  8. Progressive Education

    June 26, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    Impressive

  9. Martin Svensson

    June 26, 2020 at 7:14 pm

    Haha.. “pandemic”. Havent died more people than usual.

  10. Burdflu C-William

    June 26, 2020 at 7:18 pm

    Tech “companies” should probably not have a say in public discourse or be using their development of social platforms as an opportunistic means of socially engineering the populace.

  11. Mikki220

    June 26, 2020 at 7:24 pm

    I like Google’s initiative. Please do it the right way. A partnership of the CDC, Public Health departments and Google is a great idea. I am guilty of Googling in the middle of the night rather than waiting to see my doctor and having more questions when I watch the news. Of course, after a vaccine is available, we have to figure out how to release contact tracing; that requires pre-planning, too.

    • 462UnityShift

      June 26, 2020 at 8:51 pm

      Wow, this is embarrassing and gross, are you a robot? We should be beyond this in 2020, incredibly disappointing. PLEASE DO NOT dissolve everyone’s rights because you cannot educate yourself on what’s actually going on and how to take care of yourself and be responsible. This is straight out of the book, 1984, by George Orwell. Wake up for fuck’s sake, what you are agreeing to is insanity. Stop worshipping and looking up to corporations and Government (one and the same) to give you all the answers. Your Government does not care about you, and neither do corporations – you are a cash cattle helping them to achieve their goals.

      We live in a plutocracy. Google is buying up the pharmaceutical industry, medical record companies etc., Bill Gates is doing the same while working with Fauci to push fear campaigns so that everyone is excited about their “miracle cure vaccines”. The Government is owned by corporations. These are massive conflicts of interests and people who speak exactly the way you do are letting it all happen because they’ve convinced you using fear. If people, in general, do not become aware of what’s happening, then we will all suffer the consequences.

  12. Balancing Life

    June 26, 2020 at 7:57 pm

    How Dare You! This is disgusting! 🤢

  13. TheJojovani

    June 26, 2020 at 8:00 pm

    its crazy to see how they psychopaths talk about this like it’s a Saturday lounging at the beach, its very normalized for them

    • Rena M.

      June 26, 2020 at 8:10 pm

      Sadly most of people tune out when something gets difficult but yeah i agree british on beach, french out on streets celebrating as if its all over when in fact its nowhere near.

  14. TheJojovani

    June 26, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    HOW IS JAPAN CURING PEOPLE WITH COVID-19 HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN OTHERWISE KNOWN AS HYDROX

    • dedium

      June 26, 2020 at 10:23 pm

      You mean killing them because OH is a ROH that can kill and cause anemia in excessive concentration…. If you meant OH- then you are suggesting killing people as it is a strong base no thanks…. If you mean water, its name isn’t hydrox (the above two are hydroxyl radical and hydroxyl ion respectively).

  15. Mary Wright

    June 26, 2020 at 8:10 pm

    This is not a pandemic with a death rate of less than 1% it’s tied with the normal flu. Masks don’t work and social distancing is a joke. Google lies just like the MSM. Don’t fall for it

  16. Scally Wag

    June 26, 2020 at 8:23 pm

    I will just block my phone’s signal and only take it out when I want to use it.

  17. Savstradamus

    June 26, 2020 at 9:01 pm

    Tech companies have too much power in the control of our data and privacy. Ultimately the goals for these companies is to maximize profit for shareholders, they are not built to serve the public interest. That is self-evident.

  18. 462UnityShift

    June 26, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    Wow, this is embarrassing and gross, corporations would love this. We should be beyond this in 2020, it’s incredibly disappointing to consistently see in the mainstream narratives. As an individual, PLEASE DO NOT dissolve everyone’s rights because you cannot educate yourself on what’s actually going on and how to take care of yourself and be responsible – we need to use common sense. This corporate nightmare is straight out of the book, 1984, by George Orwell. Wake up people, what we are agreeing to as a majority is insanity. Stop worshipping and looking up to corporations and Government (one and the same) to give you all the answers. Your Government does not care about you, and neither do corporations – you are a cash cattle helping them achieve their goals.

    We live in a plutocracy. Google is buying up the pharmaceutical industry, medical record companies etc., Bill Gates is doing the same while working with Fauci to push fear campaigns so that everyone is excited about their “miracle cure vaccines” – this is a tiny portion of what’s going on. The Government is owned by corporations. These are massive conflicts of interests and people who speak exactly the way these corporations do are letting it all happen because they’ve convinced others using fear narratives. If people, in general, do not become aware of what’s happening, then we will all suffer the consequences.

    Also, as a side note, if this was an actual pandemic, no one would be out and millions would be dying. It’s embarrassing to think this is how people believe a real pandemic would play out like. Only grocery stores and medical establishments would be open, and it’d be handled entirely differently. Masks would not help at all as a whole, you need a bio-suit to prevent viral infection – putting a mask on of any type is like blocking mosquitos with a chain-linked fence to a virus. Medical establishment replaces their masks consistently throughout the day and they are NOT for viruses. Cheers

    • Leonardo Teruel

      June 26, 2020 at 9:26 pm

      Stop using youtube then. It is from Google.

    • 462UnityShift

      June 26, 2020 at 9:45 pm

      @Leonardo Teruel That’s not a solution to the problem unless everyone is going to partake and work together. Though I’ve removed myself from using Google as a majority, only using gmail for this account, for example, while removing their apps/keyboard etc. from my phone, we have to use platforms to share information about said corporations and immoral practices. Would you suggest stopping the use of all technologies because most of our electronics are made through slavery and immoral poor wages? Would you suggest for people who can’t afford organic food to stop eating entirely? Obviously not, don’t be a nitwit suffering from cognitive dissonance. Take action as PRACTICABLY possible, you can’t stop driving long distances to work because you don’t want to support fossil fuels – you educate people and try to make the world a better place for everyone. Not everyone has the means currently, and not everyone knows what I know, but that doesn’t mean you cease to care and try to change. Cheers

    • Major Gnuisance

      June 27, 2020 at 4:28 pm

      @462UnityShift It’s cute how you think they’re out to get you but you still trust your phone, which is ultimately controlled by them, just because you uninstalled a couple of bundled apps.

  19. Geoff Thomson

    June 26, 2020 at 9:29 pm

    Be SMARTER than my kids & Wife
    Must WATCH, Provable TRUTH, START THINKING…—!!!

    The Purge Is Coming And So is the “GREAT RESET”

    America Needs to Hit Rock Bottom in Order to Save Our Constitutional Republic From Anarchy

    NOT FUNNY!

    Are You Ready “Aussie” for The Great Reset

  20. Fuck U

    June 26, 2020 at 9:34 pm

  21. dedium

    June 26, 2020 at 10:18 pm

    Guess what, they can’t…. But keep in mind that this opens new doors for milking people. I think you get it.

    • dedium

      June 26, 2020 at 10:20 pm

      Oh, that is not mentioning the political agenda.

  22. Jeff Censored!

    June 26, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    Ted is NWO propaganda…. it’s pure evil…

    • TruthFinder95

      June 27, 2020 at 2:28 am

      Lol just came over here to boost your comment up they put it on the bottom. Of course

  23. Erika Marie

    June 27, 2020 at 12:54 am

    That pen clicking is so annoy☹️

  24. Zenn Exile

    June 27, 2020 at 12:58 am

    No one with a tech company has a financial incentive to stop this or any other pandemic. The more poor and impoverished people die, the better their overall outlooks become.

  25. Lisa Love Ministries

    June 27, 2020 at 1:09 am

    Seek truth.👑
    John 14:6
    1 John 5:19

  26. chamade166

    June 27, 2020 at 1:43 am

    The US is such a dystopian plutocracy, it’s straight out of a dystopian novel. What public health are they talking about in a country with for profit stock traded companies selling fragmented health insurance (to those who can afford it)? These woke American liberals are so far off to the right economically compared to what’s the norm in developed countries, it’s crazy.

    • J

      June 29, 2020 at 12:02 am

      1984

  27. Yert

    June 27, 2020 at 2:03 am

    1984

    • Major Gnuisance

      June 27, 2020 at 4:07 pm

      Keep crying wolf and no one will listen when it’s actually justified.

    • Yert

      June 27, 2020 at 5:47 pm

      Major Gnuisance it’s unironically happening right now. With everything happening in the world, you’d be blind to not see it beginning

    • EP114587

      June 28, 2020 at 2:19 am

      Yert it’s already happened long ago….

  28. SuperPhdiva SRB

    June 27, 2020 at 2:20 am

    Tech companies are part of the problem

  29. KALEIDO jess

    June 27, 2020 at 3:42 am

    Unfortunately they’ll say this is a good idea. They’ll only end up trying to assert dominance via technology. They’re already attempting to head that way.

  30. Christie Kaiser

    June 27, 2020 at 3:48 am

    Reading the comments shows me that there are people who are paying attention and aware of what is going on. This gives me hope.

  31. KALEIDO jess

    June 27, 2020 at 3:54 am

    This video is bad I already know that based on the topic and the fact that it’s framed in a positive light.

  32. KALEIDO jess

    June 27, 2020 at 3:55 am

    Instant dislike.

  33. TheLegend27

    June 27, 2020 at 7:27 am

    Having been subcribed with Pewdiepie, I scrolled by the thumbnail and I legit thought it was Marzia

  34. The Reset Diaries

    June 27, 2020 at 9:58 am

    This comment section is woke 🙏💕

    • LJ Chase

      June 28, 2020 at 3:11 am

      Dog Latin and the Justinian Deception. Time for the dead to wake up <3

    • SuperPhdiva SRB

      June 28, 2020 at 6:48 pm

      Yup

  35. Sophe Abdulrahman

    June 27, 2020 at 10:28 am

    Thanks TED ❤❤❤🌹🌹🌹

  36. ITouchTheSky 8GladysWorld8

    June 27, 2020 at 10:57 am

    Lovely watching and listening to both of you talking about technology and health here on the top of the mountain of Italy. It’s a nice break for me from my sustainable garden, watching Ted and Tedx very informative videos of different amazing people and eating my lunch at the same time. It’s 1 o’clock in the afternoon here, so sunny in my balcony before. I am having spinach and small fruits smoothie with dark chocolate. Cheers. God bless the people and the world.

  37. Thomas Serrano

    June 27, 2020 at 1:08 pm

    I feel like the media all over the world are creating an atomosphere of paranoïa and hysteria that comes close to madness.
    First they tell us the world is going to end in 20 years, then they tell us hundreds of milions are going to die from a disease that can hardly be qualified as a pandemic, what’s next ?
    There is no reasonable scientific debate, it’s all politics, confusion and draconian measures (to the benefit of whom ?).

  38. Serge .L

    June 27, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    Hahaha! … A KAREN! They DO, truly exist! lol All the Karen meme WERE RIGHT!

  39. Rodo Davico

    June 27, 2020 at 3:30 pm

    Stop trying to control everything. S-T-O-P.

  40. Major Gnuisance

    June 27, 2020 at 3:35 pm

    Don’t listen to the uneducated fearmongering going on in the comments.
    The solution that was described (opt-in, user controlled, no GPS, Bluetooth LE based) can be both effective, efficient and privacy respecting.
    If anything, it’s sacrificing effectiveness in favor of efficiency and privacy, because having location data could be very useful indeed.

    And if you’re ok with them doing this as promised, but don’t trust them to do that, well, you’re *already* trusting them not to do all of the terrible things they *could* be doing as the ultimate masters of your phone’s software.

    • Major Gnuisance

      June 27, 2020 at 3:50 pm

      If there are legitimate problems with their solution, the real alarms will be sounded by the joint voices of the computer privacy and cybersecurity communities.
      Credited, well known groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and individuals like Bruce Schneider.
      The EFF has an article on this issue:
      There are a lot of nuances and tradeoffs to this kind of problem.
      Don’t let fearmongers spouting echo chamber soundbytes degenerate the discussion.

    • hootsmin

      June 29, 2020 at 6:40 am

      @Major Gnuisance Oh dear, your relying on the EFF to keep you safe? That would be the same EFF that was started by the Grateful Dead guys and their tech buddies that did a lot of work for the CIA, I mean they even had a mushroom expert in the band and the band of course got a lot of experimental sound equipment from certain universities involved with the company. Watch who you trust dummy, they always have their controlled opposition to catch idiots like you that do zero research. I’d suggest people dont listen to your empty head soundbytes personally.

    • Major Gnuisance

      June 29, 2020 at 3:49 pm

      @hootsmin You better watch it, or I’ll tell Bill Gates to turn the frogs in your yard gay with chemtrails and 5G.

    • hootsmin

      June 29, 2020 at 7:30 pm

      @Major Gnuisance You must have been wearing your mask too long and got brain damage. Chemtrails are for the most part in the jet fuel moron (military spraying excepted), weather modification is real, the military even have autonomous nano-technology swarms to modify the weather now. 5G is going to be a real killer app, like literally, the milimetric frequencies are for the SMART dust and the nano tech. That this sounds like sci-fi to a moron like yourself is because you haven’t read all the little whitepapers they keep leaving all over the internet for us so you think your living in the eighties like we saw in the matrix. Citations available on request.

  41. Natural Technologist

    June 27, 2020 at 4:59 pm

    Interesting. At some point,, human consciousness will exist inside robots, like the 2009 movie Surrogates. The only challenge is the same challenge that has existed since the inception of humans, which is “ignorance”, which is also evil. Notice how the homeless, poverty and other challenges existing since human existence are all growing in numbers? And it won’t stop unless you and the rest of humanity evolve from it.

  42. LJ Chase

    June 28, 2020 at 3:07 am

    Allow Rife technology to come back, that was stolen/bought out so cancer will always be a billion dollar business?

  43. AndreaCarlo Monti

    June 28, 2020 at 9:30 am

    they aren’t. thank for comin’ to my ted talk. unsub.

  44. Pearli Brown

    June 28, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    so interesting! thanks for sharing !its basically what Israel has been doing from the beginning.

    • ROSHAN JOHN MATHEW

      June 30, 2020 at 9:11 am

      You will see more coming up in conjunction with tech and thats how its done by the ones gone haywire for some reason…. doing something that they think fascinate them mystically so that they can exclaim the magic that they have found to cheat themselves and others with.

  45. Ram Shashank Rayavarapu

    June 29, 2020 at 9:32 am

    Who else loves Ted ?, like this comment.

  46. Nenrs1

    June 29, 2020 at 7:37 pm

    wow thanks KAREN

    but no thanks

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